The Phoenix Hotel Yogyakarta - Handwritten Collection 5 stars

Family friendly

Such a charming hotel with real character. The building is beautiful with stained glass windows and carvings and the staff are very friendly and helpful. The breakfast is extensive (although I would prefer more fruit options) and the toaster actually made perfect toast first time! The management need to ensure that it’s kept in good repair - there are some little things need checking. But overall, a lovely place.

I was excited to stay here due to the rich heritage of this hotel. Whilst the common areas of the hotel are great, the rooms are a huge let down. I had believed from various listings that this is a luxury hotel - but the rooms are clearly not. The best parts about the hotel - ‘museum living room, beautiful corridors, pool, courtyard ( especially at night), nice collection of alabaster, art and artefacts. These are 5-star. The rooms however are three star. Cleanliness is lacking . Spots on bedsheets. Stains on toilet bowl . Rubber lining of glass shower door is yellow with age. Balcony doesn’t look like it has been cleaned - floors are dirty, doors are dusty and grimy- they obviously need a fresh coat of paint. The bathroom does little justice to the hotel. Bathroom amenities ( or lack of ) are appalling - no body lotion. Even when I asked - I was told that this was a change in policy and nothing was available. (After visiting the spa twice, I realised that the staff could have gotten something from their spa) The towel rack is visibly slanting - you can’t even put the towels properly without them sliding off. Towels are grey and frayed! Only 2 bath towels are provided ( although the hotel added hand towels and small wash cloths after I raised this issue ). Room is dated - there are only 2 sockets in the room for charging your devices - one is at the writing desk across the bed , the other is at floor level . After spotting the stain on the bedsheets, dirty balcony, grey towels and dark shower stall - I was v tempted to switch hotel after the first night . Best thing about the room is the art piece behind the bed! The hotel has not taken into account the guest’s point of view . There is no ramp for luggage at the driveway. No concierge counter.The staff directed us to our room when we got lost but did not offer to help with our luggage. Two slim bottles of water are provided - this is not enough for two people even for one night. . What a pity - this could be such an excellent hotel . I do appreciate the old charm of this hotel ( which is why I chose it in the first place ) but the rooms need upgrading. More importantly- housekeeping standards has to go up. I hope that the Management of The Phoenix Is reading this. Pls do justice to the beautiful common areas of the hotel by improving the rooms.

This hotel built in 1918 somewhat reminds me of Raffles Hotel in Singapore, a lot of the colonial architecture feel. And balcony also reminds me of the buildings in Paris or Barcelona. So that’s the charm. But the rooms are very dated. The toilet is awful and the flush doesn’t work very well where we can hear water flowing for long time. My wife complained of a stench. Personally while I like the colonial style balcony I felt there is not much privacy sitting there as the neighbour is sitting right there next door smoking into me. But I am somewhat disappointed with the service, alot of it I noticed could also be traced to poor service training and language proficiency. When we checked in, we gave our personal details like passport to the reception. She gave us one key and we thought we are home. And then when we were going out , the lady asked us to go over and said we haven’t paid for the hotel room. We usually pay at the end of the trip and was wondering what is the rush. The next morning, when I went for breakfast, the staff said there was no deposit on our account and I couldn’t sign the bill to the room. I later went to counter and updated the staff and she took a deposit. However over the few days whenever we tried to sign the bill to the room, they would not trust us and have to check with the front counter each time. That said, the breakfast spread is very generous and value for money. But some of service staff appear to have difficulty communicating in English . They appear to have little exposure to foreign tourists. Also, service is generally slow. On our last night at dinner, our food came quite late and they served us three plates with steak with the wrong blunt knives. When we asked for steak knife, the waiter came back with only one instead of three . When my wife ordered a red wine, the waiter came with an empty wine glass and no wine. We waited and the wine didn’t come. We realised he thought we only want an empty wine glass which is strange . My friend ordered a rare steak and it came well done. The steak were so so. While the menu at restaurant has good spread of choices , the food was generally average. The only great thing about the hotel is the smallish batik shopping corner which offers some nice clothes. But overall, I find the quality of the room and service not great. I definitely won’t be coming back.

We had problems with our reservation but Mbak Gita at the front desk was very patient and kindly upgraded our room for an even better stay. We arrived quite late at night but were welcomed warmly and walked to our room by Mbak Gita herself. We also appreciate that after our first day we were never asked of our room number at breakfast, which made the hotel feel more like home and comfortable. The room was very clean and well-kept albeit some minor details (eg., the door's lock being broken). Overall we had an excellent stay at Phoenix and thank the staffs for their hospitality -- we would love to come back!

If you like mix of colonial with Indonesian flavor, this is your hotel. The hotel is a bit rustic and old, thus beautiful decorating, rooms are okay but old fashioned. Hotel has nice pool area and ok gym. Also, spa with massage is there. Breakfast buffet has nice selection but my disappointment was cold food even if I was one of the first at the breakfast. Hopefully they will better in this.